Compulsive blog-checking, bad timing

I confess: I often find myself so desperate for a mindless way to waste my time that I frequently check the livebookmark I have to my own blog as if something new to read would appear. What disappointment! Everything that's posted I've already read and I never find a post that I didn't see coming for weeks in advance. Oh well.

Speaking of compulsive time-wasting, I just had one of the best or worst Presidents' days ever. I sat down to eat lunch and watched part of A&E's CSI: Miami marathon. After an unusually long lunch (let's just say that if you were a typical hourly worker who takes 1/2 hour for lunch, it would take you 12 workdays to tally up as much lunchtime as I had just today), I watched Horatio Kane solve between 12 and 20 murders. Considering that Miami only has about 54 murders a year, I suppose that just with just four or five days like this per year, Mr. Kane can realistically solve all the murders within his jurisdiction. This probably explains why he operates outside his jurisdiction so much. Over the course of the day, I saw him thwart a terrorist attack, conduct an investigation in New York City and solve a crime that was committed in Iraq. When asked how he gets authority to investigate these crimes, it's always because the people in charge of these places just sort-of give him the authority.

Granted, a lot of it does sort-of have to do with his job, but all these exotic places he goes (not to mention beautiful Miami) make the episodes difficult for me to turn away from. In addition to his far-reaching investigative skills, he also managed to prosecute a city-councilwoman's husband and successfully investigate a murder where all the prime suspects were members of his investigative team.

Here are some bad strategies for stopping watching CSI:Miami marathons:

1. Tell yourself that you'll stop at the end of this episode, but then decide to "just watch the beginning part of this next episode where they show the crime." It never works. You won't be able to stop wondering who committed the crime and what crazy details will be revealed until they've already got the show going. It is equally unsatisfying to stop in the middle of an episode or even at the end of an episode.

Well, actually that's it. That's my terrible strategy.